Morning chaos
by Romancandle31
Summary: Normal morning chaos for the Brockmans is increased when Jake is taken ill.
1. Chapter 1

"Ahhh" Sue let out an audible sigh as she sat in the car. They were all there, present and correct and today they were only five minutes late. She knew she shouldn't ruin the bliss by asking but did anyway, "Did you remember to pick up your lunch bag today Karen?" She said turning round to look at her youngest.

"What the..." she spluttered suddenly taking in the fact that only her two youngest children sitting in the back of the car "where's Jake?! Pete I thought you were with him!" she said, raising her voice now in exasperation.

"I was, he was just coming" her husband sighed already irritable that he'd had to find fresh sets of clothes for Ben and Karen that morning after they had a water fight to decide who should go in the bathroom first.

"Alright I'll go" Sue, tried to placate him sensing he'd had enough already today. She took off her seatbelt and started heading back towards the house.

"We'll be late Dad" Ben squealed in the back of the car

"Since when have you been bothered about being late for school Ben? You've already held us up quite enough"

"Since it's show and tell today. And I'm taking this" he replied gleefully holding up, Smudge, the next door neighbour's cat.

"No you aren't Ben" Pete wasn't even surprised "and where did you find her? I thought they'd been extra careful since that last episode with the fireworks, and the litter tray."

Pete had now resigned himself to getting out of the car slowly hauled himself out of his seat. He walked round to the back of the car, opened the car door and tried to take the now frightened cat out of Ben's arms. The cat put up as much of a fight as Ben did but eventually shot out of the car giving a frightened screech as it did.

"But I'll have nothing for show and tell now Dad" Ben shouted watching the cat flee into the garden next door.

"Well you should have thought of that before you stole somebody's cat" said Pete

"Well" Karen stated suddenly, "if everyone else is getting out I am too" and got out of her side of the car to stand on the pavement with her arms folded.

"No Karen we're all getting back in look" Pete got back into the driver's seat as Karen pouted on the pavement.

"It's ok actually dad" said Ben who was now getting out of his side of the car "I've got this as well" he held up the largest of the Brockman's kitchen knives to show his dad.

"Oh for God's sake Ben" Pete got out and wrestled the knife from Ben's hand, "you didn't even think you were going to get away with that one. Right everyone get back in the car, I'm going to put this back where it belongs and we are all going to head off only …" He looked at his watch "30 minutes late".

He started heading toward the house. Ben, who had now got out of the car, followed him.

"But now I need to find something else" Ben wailed behind him "You wouldn't want me to get expelled, you would go to prison because you wouldn't let me"

"Fine!" Pete was no longer bothering to hide his increasing irritation "quickly whilst I get your mum and Jake"


	2. Chapter 2

As Pete opened the door he could already hear Sue and Jake shouting in the kitchen. He briefly considered heading back to the car and pretending he hadn't heard. He couldn't bear another day like yesterday. He briefly considered heading back to the car and pretending he hadn't heard. He couldn't bear another day like yesterday.

"You are not trying this again Jake, school know about last week. We told them to stop any more lies like this" Sue was shouting sounding more hysterical by the second.

Jake had managed to convince his parents he was ill the week before to miss a test he was feeling underprepared for. He'd been caught out when Pete had been sent home from work after actually being ill and getting a bout of rather embarrassing tummy trouble.

"I'm not lying mum" Jake was shouting back more frantically than normal "You never believe anything I say!"

"Well can you blame me? We look like idiots who can't control our kids thanks to you"

"Maybe you are though"

"Oi Jake, don't talk to your mother like that" Pete said braving coming into the kitchen. Jake and Sue were having a stand-off. Jake was standing behind the counter almost using it to shield himself from his mum who was gripping the counter on the opposite side looking seriously angry.

"Hurry up Ben!" Pete shouted back out the kitchen door "We **will** be going in two minutes."

"But I really don't feel well" Jake was quieter now, he did look quite pitiful but Pete couldn't tell if he had engineered this somewhat by keeping his shirt untucked and untidy and leaving his hair in its natural bedhead state.

"We need to go" Pete interjected now they'd gone quiet.

"Pete maybe he does look a bit pale" Sue was starting to look a bit concerned

"No" Pete moved behind the counter to take Jake by the arm "Jake come out to the car Karen's out there alone, if you feel too ill once you're at school go to the nurse. I'm sure whatever it is will pass"

"But dad I really don't…" Jake was starting to get quite upset "I feel really weird."

Noticing a change in the tone of his voice Pete looked over as Jake suddenly grabbed the side of the counter as if to hold himself up. Pete began to get angry. They were all really late and his children were running rings round him, one son was wandering the house on some farcical show and tell mission and the other was  
holding them all up with his frankly terrible acting.

Suddenly Jake groaned slightly. Pete was about to start seriously shouting when he noticed that all the colour had drained from his son's face. Jake swayed slightly and rolled his eyes as his knees buckled underneath him causing him to fall to the floor.

"Oh my god Jake!" Sue shouted and made to run towards him

"It's ok Sue" Pete tried to be the calm voice of reason "I think he's just fainted" Pete put an arm out to motion for Sue to sit down as he knelt on the floor next to his unconscious son.


	3. Chapter 3

"Jake, Jake can you hear me?" He said shaking him by the shoulder gently

Jake began to stir slightly but made no sound, Pete groaned in response feeling so relieved that Jake seemed to be coming round.

"He's ok Sue" he looked back at his wife who was holding back tears, feeling guilty they hadn't believed him.

Jake's eyelids fluttered and he coughed slightly.

"Are you ok?" Pete asked still shaking him as he opened his eyes properly.

Jake blinked back at his dad trying to get the blurry shapes around him back into focus. The room was still spinning but he managed to splutter, "What happened?"

"You just fainted Jake, you're ok now" Pete answered him taking in Jake's pale complexion and clammy skin.

Ben suddenly ran back into the kitchen "Can I take this one instead" he shouted holding a large stone Pete had told him was possessed once to keep him quiet on a long journey. Ben stopped suddenly seeing his brother lying on the floor.

"We aren't allowed to lie on the kitchen floor Jake" he told him very matter of factly.

"Ben, Jake's not feeling very well; can you go out to the car and wait with Karen?" Sue said recovering her voice and steering Ben towards the door.

Pete was still kneeling beside their eldest "Ok just lie still for a minute Jake, how are you feeling?"

"Really dizzy and weird, do you believe me now?"

"Yes" Pete smiled relieved Jake was being his cheeky self.

Sue walked back into the kitchen having sent Ben out to the car.

"Could you grab Jake a glass of water Sue?" Pete asked her

"Right" he said speaking to Jake "I'm going to help you to sit up ok? You need to tell me if you start feeling worse" He managed to help a very shaky Jake into a sitting position.

"Did you hurt yourself when you fell?" He asked checking Jake for any damage.

"Er here I think" he put his had up to his cheek which was already starting to bruise.

Pete gently prodded where Jake had pointed "It's not broken but you're going have quite a shiner Jake, are you sure you didn't bang your head?"

"I don't think so", Jake still looked spaced out and confused.

Just then Karen came running back into the house shouting, "Right what's going on? We are all late" she said trying to sound grown up.

"Alright Karen, we are coming but Jake isn't feeling well" Sue said

"Has Jake been sick?" Karen asked looking at her brother who was still very pale and shaky and did look as though he might be sick any minute.

"No darling he's ok now"

"Well he can get back in the car and stop making us late then." Karen stamped her feet

"Right" Sue turned to Pete "One of us better take Ben and Karen whilst someone stops with Jake. Do you want me to go?"

"Yeah I'll sort Jake and I'll give school a ring"

Sue would have preferred to stay with Jake but she knew he didn't need Ben and Karen running amok around him and Pete was normally the calmer of the two of them in a crisis. Sue took Karen's hand and led her toward the front door. As she opened it she surveyed the sight in front of her which had dramatically altered since she had got out of the car 15 minutes ago. She didn't remember such devastation outside her front door.

"Pete" she shouted back toward the kitchen, "When did Ben learn to drive a car?!"


	4. Chapter 4

"What?" shouted Pete from the kitchen.

Sue looked around the street, somehow Ben had managed to manoeuvre the family car out of its space. Badly. The car was now parked at right angles across the street causing cars to queue up at either side of the road in rush hour traffic. The cars either side of the original space had been given a handful of dints and scratches but poor Mrs Allen from two doors down was going to come home to find the entire side of her car had been caved in where the Brockman's car had come to a halt.

"Pete he's still in the driver's seat!" Sue shrieked running toward the car. Luckily Karen hadn't got back into the car and was sitting on the curb watching the action from a safe distance. Ben was sitting in the driving seat but wasn't trying to move the car anymore. Unusually for Ben he actually looked quite scared, he realised he'd gone too far this time.

"He's what?!" Pete shouted back, he was sitting with Jake just rubbing his back to comfort him. "I'll have to go and check, are you ok to sit here a minute?"

Jake nodded weakly, he knew his dad would have to go and sort out whatever was happening outside.

Pete ran outside and towards his wife who was trying to pull Ben from the car. Ben was being far more compliant than normal, and tumbled out into his mum's arms. "Oh my god Ben you could have been really hurt what were you thinking?!" Sue shouted moving Ben away from the damage. Pete slid into the driving seat and backed up the car, there was a crunch as it separated from Mrs Allen's car and a number of bumps and bangs as Pete managed to get the car back into an appropriate space.

"No one's going to school then. Or work." Pete sighed

As traffic started flowing through the gap again one of the neighbours came up to Sue, "We've rung the police Sue, we didn't want to but we had to" she looked genuinely upset. They had a good relationship with the Brockman's but they couldn't leave a child smashing a car into the surrounding vehicles no matter how friendly Sue had always been.

"It's fine" Sue smiled at her neighbour trying to remember her name, the one who had always been quite nice about the trampled flower beds, footballs and that broken window. "Just send them round to ours". Even amongst the mornings chaos Sue noted how these things had become so commonplace expecting the police over this barely registered.

Sue still had hold of Ben's hand and dragged him across the road to meet Karen; Ben hadn't said a word since getting out of the car. Karen stood up as they approached, "See Ben you don't know how to drive a car, you'll go to jail now for hitting all those other cars". Ben started to cry.

"No he won't Karen, if anyone goes to jail it'll be me or your dad for leaving you all unaccompanied in the car" at this Ben started crying even more heavily and very noisily. "Ben!" she snapped "We aren't going to jail but it would serve you right so don't turn on the waterworks". Sue then felt a pang of guilt, it wasn't even fifteen minutes ago when she'd been accusing Jake of faking feeling ill.

"Oh god, Jake! No one's with him" Sue ran back towards the house, Ben's hand in one of hers and Karen's in the other. Pete trailed behind, the car wing mirror in his hand.


End file.
